amalgam neuro-toxicalogy..

Hello everyone,
I enclose some technical info on Amalgam poisoning
- implications for neurology and diseases liek alzhiemers..
anyone care to comment?
cheers
ade
Amalgam poisoning - the forgotton issue?
For some considerable time now, Dental Amalgam has been
implicated by many top researchers and bio-chemists as a possible
cause of many conditions. Yet, despite these warnings, the US,
UK and European governments continue to support its use. I
present here some disturbing evidence, which I hope will cause
you to at least dig deeper into the matter. First, by way of
introduction, I present a summary of the BBC Panorama program
(shown June 1993) - not totally comprehensive, but it provides an
excellent introduction to the subject. The evidence produced in
this program has not been refuted - although some may augue it
has been swept under the carpet!
If you have access to the internet, I would suggest you look at
these sources:- First a very good and intelligent FAQ on the
subject is available from:- http://www.algonet.se/~leif/Am
FAQigr.html
You can subscribe to a mailing list called "AMALGAM" where
questions about amalgam / mercury / health is discussed. Some
quite good biochemists are online at this site.. To subscribe to the
list send an e-mail to: LISTSERV at listserv.net with the
following message in the first line of the body of the e-mail:
SUB AMALGAM Myfirstname Mylastname
For them who never have tried the commercial database "Medline"
it could be nice to try it. Parts of Medline are accessible free of
charge at: http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:2555/r_medline
html
The Panorama documentary and AMALGAM
fillings.
I realise that the quality of TV coverage on scientific issues such
as these is variable, however this program presented studies from
the World Health Organization (W.H.O), and other quality
sources. In the program's opening statement: "Mercury is so toxic
that at certain levels, it drives people mad, but even the tiniest
amounts are regarded as unsafe. At lower levels, and no-one
knows how low they are, mercury attacks the brain, and the
central nervous system, producing symptoms that include
nervousness and irritability, lack of concentration, loss of
memory and self confidence, mood swings, anxiety, depression,
fatigue and insomnia. Because there can be other causes for
these symptoms, nobody has associated amalgam with it"
Dr Lars Friburg is the worlds leading authority on mercury
poisoning, and was chief advisor to the World Health
Organization on mercury safety. On the program he states that
there is NO safe level, and that he is of the opinion that amalgam
should not be used.
The program then quotes research conducted 10 years ago, that
showed that mercury is NOT safely locked into the amalgam, but
leaks away. Electron microscope pictures of old fillings showed
holes where the mercury has evaporated - typically 40% of the
mercury can be released over a ten year period. Picking up on this
research, Fritz Morshider (Professor of Medical Physiology at
University of Calgary) and Murray Vimmey (World Health
Organization consultant) conducted an experiment, where a Sheep
was give amalgam fillings prepared with a radioactive isotope of
mercury that shows up on X-rays. It was shown that large
amounts of the mercury leaked and was absorbed by the body.
Dental experts raised an objection - a sheep chews and grinds its
food a lot more that a human - so the research was re-conducted
with monkeys, with the same results. They found that the mercury
actually damaged the kidneys of the sheep.
Professor Vasken Aposhian, head at the Dept of molecular and
Cellular biology of the University of Arizona, conducted a study
of humans, using chelating agents to flush mercury from the body.
He established that on average two-thirds of the mercury in the
body comes from amalgam fillings.
Dr David Egglestone of the University of Southern California,
an eminent dentist, has conducted post-mortem research that
showed that dental mercury accumulated and stayed in the brain.
He confirmed that mercury is released from amalgam fillings.
Dr Boyd Haley, head of medicinal and biochemistry at the
University of Kentucky is conducting research into the link
between dental mercury and Alzheimer's disease. He is quoted as
saying that while he would not like to specifically say (yet) that
mercury causes Alzheimer's disease, there is no doubt in his mind
that low levels of mercury present in the brain cause neural cell
death that causes a dementia similar to Alzheimer's. He has just
made a dramatic breakthrough, that establishes that dental
mercury inhibits the production of vital chemicals (tubilin),
leading to changes identical to the changes that occur with
Alzheimer's disease. He considers that amalgam is a time-bomb.
Dr Diana Echeverria, a neuro-toxicologist, has completed a
remarkable new study. It tested the reaction times of Dentists to
do specific manual tasks, and showed losses in manual dexterity
and concentration. She is quoted as saying that the exposure of
mercury for patients with a large number of fillings and Dentists
overlap - ie. patients are at the same risk.
The US environmental protection safety limits for mercury
vapour are 10 Micrograms per day, yet research shows that
fillings contribute between 1 and 29 ug/day - 3 times the limit. Dr
Steven Challacombe, Professor of oral medicine at St Guys and
one of Britian's leading dental researchers, has followed this new
research and is not satisfied amalgam is safe. He believes that
further action and research is required by the British government.
Many countries in the world have now officially banned
Amalgam fillings, including Sweden and some mid-european
countries. Other countries seem to be replacing amalgam by
stealth - without actually wanting to admit legal liability. A
number of other studies were quoted - showing the transmission of
mercury from mothers to unborn children, and so on - however the
above summarises the principle medical arguments put forward by
the Program.
My Comments
The program shows Dentists using considerable precautions
when removing fillings - Rubber dams in the mouth, low speed
drills and independent air supplies for both patient and dentist.
This is because of the very high levels of mercury released when
an old filling is drilled out. Similar precautions are now being
adopted by many UK dentists. It is interesting to note that there
has been much more 'drilling out' of old teeth performed recently
than in previous times, since in pre-antibiotic days an infected
tooth could be a life-threatening infection, and had to be pulled.
Modern dentists make 'rescueing' teeth a high priority - maybe this
accounts for an increase in amalgam related problems.
The way that the current US/UK medical systems work is very
bad - everything seems to be decided by a few quangos, with no
really effective feedback from the grass roots.
Also the inertia in the system is incredible. Take a classic example
- The cause of Stomach Ulcers. For a very long time, specialists
have insisted that they were caused by factors like diet, stress,
etc. Then, recently, Dr Marshall, an Australian doctor discovered
a bacterium living on these stomach ulcers, and postulated they
were the cause of the problem. Sure enough, he discovered that
patients given a course of a suitable antibiotic fully recovered
from the disease. Now the fun starts - was he hailed a hero by
specialists the world over? Was he hell! The Drugs companies
fought his ideas tooth and nail - after all, instead of feeding
patients for 20-30 years with expensive patented acid-inhibiting
drugs, the problem can be cured with a simple inexpensive dose of
out-of-patent antibiotics. Its taken decades for the establishment to
finally admit that 90% of stomach ulcers are in fact caused by this
bacterium.
And remember - this is a (relatively) simple to prove case - after
all you can get a bacterium under a microscope & see it - imagine
how much longer the establishment can mess about in the case of
a subtle neurological disorder, where so little is understood
anyway.
Another case - the UK growth-hormone victims. This treatment
was given to children with stunted growth - however evidence
came to light showing that this treatment caused a fatal CJD type
dementia later in life. The families of victim sucessfully sued the
UK government. In the judges summing up, he said that IN SPITE
of being aware of the problem with the treatment, the governing
medical council took allowed continued use and refused to even
discuss the issue.
Exactly the same thing is happening with the Amalgam issue - the
same inertia. There is just SO much evidence now that:-
A) Mercury is very dangerous. (one of the most toxic metals
known to man)
B) It DOES leak from an amalgam filling, often in large
quantities. Also, when old fillings are drilled out to make way for
new, large amounts of Mercury are released from the old filling.
(Remember, those "silver" fillings in your mouth CONTAIN 50%
MERCURY! Thats something a dentist never tells you..)
C) Many people consequently suffer serious illness. Incidentally I
believe that this is sometimes diagnosed as being ME - which in a
way it probably is, since ME is a neurological disorder that is also
not understood, and Mercury poisoning is probably at least a
contributing factor in some cases. The symptoms of "classic"
Mercury poisoning and ME bear some striking resembelances.
I really believe that the morality of some of those aurguing
otherwise is almost getting to be comparable to the tobacco
companies hiring medical "experts" to argue "But smoking isnt
really that dangerous.." By the time people became aware of the
problem, there were already 100's millions of people with
amalgam fillings. No-ones had the guts to stand up and say,
"Sorry guys, but.."